Dark Side Of The Phoenix Gate
by KingCobra582
Summary: *contains mild yaoi, violence and language* Brooklyn and Lexington find themselves ripped into future Manhattan, trapped with a strange gargoyle, and no way home. How will they get out of this one? (CHAPTER 6 IS NOW UP)
1. Alternate Lives, Part 1

Alternative Lives, Part 1  
By Jake Denton (kingcobra49036@yahoo.com)  
  
Author's note: This fic is designed to revolve around Brooklyn as he realizes what it would be like if he had never been born. This one is my favorite, and I worked hard on this one, so if you must flame me for it, flame me gently. Okay?  
Warning: This latest example of my work houses Homosexuality, and Profanity. Rated X.  
  
Castle Wyvern  
Manhattan, New York   
November 15th, 2001.  
  
Sailing in at low flight, the clan swooped down low, growling angrily, their faces shining with the white glow that came with their anger, chasing after the man who had the Phoenix Gate. The man ducked quickly into the alley behind Mike's Pizza Haven, and Goliath growled angrily at the absence of the stranger, then looked at Lexington and Brooklyn, an unfriendly scowl stretching his face.   
  
"Find him. At all costs!"  
  
"We're on it, Goliath," Brooklyn replied as he and the smaller Olive skinned gargoyle soared downwards into the alley. The muscular clan leader watched them go, an emotion of fear and dread forming up from his belly and rising through his circulation until it reached his brain. Goliath had wished that he had gone after the Phoenix Gate, instead of sending his weaker acquaintances.   
  
But he had been weak. He had been afraid, as much as he tried to deny it to himself.  
  
Several months ago, 5 years in fact, He had seen a terrible world. A future in which Broadway was blinded and later killed by one of Thailog's shock troops. Where Matt and Claw, both aged 40 years, and Bronx had been assimilated. Where Brooklyn, Angela, and Demona had been destroyed. Where Lexington had turned traitor, turning his back on the clan to gain his own twisted and unfathomable goals of wealth and power.  
  
Goliath, upon waking up, had gotten rid of the talisman, calling up a portal and chucking it into the fiery mist, never to be retrieved by mere mortals who would seek to change the world, for the better or the world. He thought he had gotten rid of it for good.  
  
He PRAYED he had gotten rid of it for all eternity.  
  
But apparently he was wrong. The Phoenix Gate had somehow resurfaced in the mortal plane, and was now placing the Manhattan Clan, if not the entire world, in dire jeopardy.   
  
* * TWO DAYS AGO * *   
  
"Come on, Lex, try and keep up!" The rust-colored Gargoyle laughed as he twirled and dipped through the Manhattan atmosphere, his wings flapping rapidly as, fifty yards behind him, his smaller friend, flailed his flying squirrel-like wings tiredly. "Come on, Brooklyn, I'm getting exhausted. Can't we PLEASE go back to the castle and finish the race tomorrow night?" Lexington pleaded, a faint glimmer of hope echoing in his voice.  
  
Brooklyn laughed. "No way, bro. I could run a marathon with the way I feel!"  
Panting, his tongue lolling out, Lexington decided he had enough and soared downwards to rest for a few minutes. Brooklyn noticed the green shape shoot earthward and flared his wings to soar after him, finding his younger brother sitting on his butt on the roof of Gen-U-Tech, holding his sides and breathing hard. Brooklyn shook his head disdainfully, squatting down to kneel by his associate's side, a sarcastic emblem burning in his eyes. "Don't tell me that little game took the wind out of you!"  
  
Still holding his sides, Lexington looked over, unable to speak, and simply nodded.  
  
Brooklyn snorted in contempt. "Let me guess. It also hurt your ribs. Am I right?"  
  
Able to breathe enough to speak, Lexington stammered, "Y-yes, B-Brooklyn..."  
Sighing in aggravation and pity, Brooklyn glanced behind him at the Castle known as Wyvern which, although it looked so close, was actually so far away, then back at his sibling, feeling remorseful for his enforced iron grip on Lexington's involvement in the nightly races the two often had. Brooklyn had always won those races, because of his bigger wing span, and that suited him just fine. It helped heal somewhat the hole he felt in his soul whenever he saw Angela and Broadway together.  
  
Feeling that hole start to eat at him, Brooklyn forced his thought to shift back to the lean bat-like creature that he had spent his entire life with and who was breathing easily, his panting lowered to a minimum level. Brooklyn, feeling apologetic, placed his hand on Lexington's shoulder.  
  
"Lex, I'm sorry. Are you okay?"  
  
Blinking quickly, Lex looked up at his life-long friend and smiled, a smile forming on his stocky face.   
  
"I'm fine, Brooklyn," was all Lexington would say, putting his hand over Brooklyn's still nestled on his shoulder. Before he knew it, Brooklyn found himself looking into his rookery brother's eyes, thinking thoughts he had never considered before. An uncertain question forming in his voice, Brooklyn suddenly realized that he was wondering what it would be like to kiss Lex...  
  
What?!  
  
Brooklyn shook his head, ashamed at himself for some impetuous thoughts. Lexington looked at him, concerned.  
  
"Brooklyn...what is it?"  
  
Brooklyn looked into those large eyes, the eyes that seemed to mesmerize him intensely. "Uh, it's nothing. I was just thinking about something..."  
Before he knew it, Lexington was kissing him.  
  
Startled, and yet pleased, Brooklyn wrapped his arms around the smaller gargoyle and kissed back, feeling Lexington's tonsils with the tip of his tongue and rubbing his talons firmly on Lexington's buttocks. The Olive garg returned the favor by running his hands through Brooklyn's flowing white hair, and Brooklyn pulled away, not out of disgust and revulsion, but curiosity.   
  
"Did you hear that?" he looked at his confused and frustrated rookery brother.  
Lexington's bowling ball eyes narrowed as he listened concentrating. "No," he admitted. "Now about us..."  
  
Brooklyn smiled inwardly, longing and sexual desire racing through his veins at the thought of being mates with his rookery brother, but he knew that whatever that strange red flare of red was would have to be checked out right away. His own personal feelings for Lexington would have to wait until later.  
Brooklyn shook his head again under Lexington's worried look. "We can discuss this later, Lex," he gently touched that spot between Lexington's and wing, sending shivers down the smaller clan member's spine. "after we check out what's going on."  
  
Lexington sighed happily. "Okay, Brooklyn. You're the second-in-command, after all."  
  
"Fuckin A I am," the rusted Gargoyle replied as he spread his wings and took to the skies once again, now starting to feel breathless himself. Whatever it was he had been feeling for Lexington back on that rooftop, it sure as hell felt good. It filled a long buried potion of his imminent life essence, some part of him that hadn't been surfacing since he was a hatchling and he first discovered the concepts of mates. He had been so excited about finding a female mate back then.  
  
But now he wasn't sure he wanted to mate with a female. He only knew that Lexington was something he had looked for his entire life, and until now he had been too blind to notice, seeking companionship in females. First Maggie, then Angie. Every female had scorned him. Had rejected him.  
  
Had hurt him emotionally.  
  
But Lexington hadn't. Looking back at the Olive brother that was following, Brooklyn thought back.  
  
The two had been friends for as far back as Brooklyn could remember, gliding over the skies of Scotland as hatchlings, riding horses together through the hills, even having fencing lessons in the courtyard, an art which neither of them had really picked up on.  
  
Smiling somberly at these memories, Brooklyn's attention was diverted by the flash that originated in the alley. He looked behind him. "It's down there. Let's go!" The two flailed their wings and landed onto the dirty concrete pavement of the back alley, a creepy sense of doom becoming rapidly evident with each passing second the two friends spent searching for the cause of the freaky light show.  
  
"There!"  
  
Brooklyn glanced up, following Lexington's eager response and looking past his green-tinged talon, which Brooklyn couldn't help but notice was attractive and yet fierce-looking, at the street bum facing away from them, holding the what looked like the Phoenix Gate over his head. Neither of the gargoyles had seen it themselves but they had heard descriptions of it from Goliath whenever he discussed his voyage through Avalon, except they both thought Goliath had gotten rid of it. So what was it doing here?  
  
No matter.  
  
Brooklyn lunged forward, sailing straight at the man, and landed on his feet in front of the frightened man. Soothing, he raised his claws to calm down the drunken individual. "It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you," Brooklyn glanced down at the man's hands. Yep, he was holding the Phoenix Gate all right. "I just want that," pointing at the talisman.  
  
The man's terrified eyes glanced down at the item he held in his hands, an item he was going to sell to buy whiskey, but thought better of it and shoved into Brooklyn's chest fiercely. "Take it! Just don't hurt me!" the man pleaded, before he turned and raced off.  
  
Brooklyn watched him go. "Well, that was easy," he smirked. Holding the magical property carefully, so as not to drop and smash it, Brooklyn tucked the small object into his loincloth pocket, and looked at Lexington. "Uh, about what happened back there..."  
  
Lexington's interest was renewed. "Yeah...?"  
  
Brooklyn smiled and hugged the smaller creature, feeling Lex's arms go around his back as he leaned into the pointed green ear and whispered. "Id like to have a relationship with you Lex."  
  
Lexington grinned happily. Things were already going his way for the first time in a long time. "Really?"  
  
"Oh, yeah," Brooklyn answered suavely. "The only reason I tried to hook up with Angela and Maggie before was because I didn't want the others to know my secret. Lexington, I'm gay." He paused, looking down at his younger brother. "I'd like to be in a relationship with you, Lex. Why do you think I went with you almost everywhere you went?"  
  
Lexington grinned. Things were starting to look up. He had waited for years to hear Brooklyn say that.  
  
They kissed quickly, then separated. "Let's go show this to Goliath. He'll want to know about it."  
  
"Us?"  
  
Brooklyn laughed shrilly. "No. The Phoenix Gate, you little twit."  
  
"Don't call me a twit!"  
  
"Twit!"  
  
Laughing, spinning through the skies, heading back to the Castle, Brooklyn and Lexington laughed and goofed around. They had both worn a heavy burden on their shoulders for so long, and tonight they had smashed the burdens and found each other.  
  
Touching down on the courtyard, Brooklyn looked around for the other clan members. "Goliath? Broadway?"  
  
"They're all out on patrol," they heard a calm yet arrogant voice behind them say and both turned to see David Xanatos standing in the foyer. Brooklyn smirked, his happy mood beginning to falter a little bit.  
  
Xanatos looked down and saw the Phoenix Gate nestled tightly into Brooklyn's pocket. "I don't suppose you'd want to give that to me so I can put it in my artifacts room away from prying eyes, now do you?"  
  
Brooklyn's eyes burned white, but returned to normal as he handed it into Xanatos's expecting outstretched hand. "Brooklyn, you can trust him!" Lexington gasped in silent horror as he watched the millionaire walk away into the castle. Brooklyn shrugged at his new love. "He's proven his worth. He can be trusted. If he couldn't be trusted, he would've smashed us to pieces in our stone sleep, now wouldn't he?"  
  
Lexington nodded. "Yeah..."  
  
Whistling Dixie, happy as a clam, Xanatos' feet stopped in front of the artifacts room door, and the bearded man pushed open the door, stepping inside. Looking around for an empty display case, Xanatos spotted an empty glass door cabinet against the far wall. He smiled.  
  
"Home sweet home, my little Phoenix Gate."  
  
Placing the Phoenix Gate inside, Xanatos locked it up and left, locking the large mahogany door behind him as he exited the room, whistling jovially as he snapped off the lights in the hallway, and disappeared around the corner.  
Returning to the courtyard, Xanatos looked up, unimpressed, as the familiar Lavender, Aqua, and Brown shapes touched down, closing their winds around themselves, as they nodded, disgruntled, at their former enemy-turned-ally. Goliath, sensing something was up, stepped forward.  
  
"My instincts are telling me you have something to tell me. You know me well enough to know I always listen to my instincts, Xanatos. What is it?" the clan leader rumbled deep in his massive chest. Xanatos smiled arrogantly as always. Ever the cool one.  
  
"I have a talisman. A magical talisman. One I thought you'd be very interested in, Goliath. Come with me."  
  
Putting his hand on Goliath's shoulder, the billionaire led his Castle Protector to the Artifact Room and showed him the Phoenix Gate, smiling inadvertently. Goliath growled in anger as he saw it sitting in the trophy case.  
The Phoenix Gate, somehow retrieved from the space-time plane.  
He didn't like it, and roared at Xanatos, demanding to know how he had gotten it and why it was here now.  
  
Xanatos flinched, but remained as steely as always. "Relax, Goliath. You can thank Brooklyn and Lexington for it. They're the ones that brought it to me."  
Goliath growled, highly pissed off.  
  
Stepping back into the foyer, Goliath stared at Brooklyn and Lexington, his eyes strict and accusing. He beckoned a finger at them. "You two, come with me. NOW."   
"We're in trouble," Brooklyn whispered, swallowing hard. Lexington nodded fearfully.  
  
Inside the Kitchen, listening intently to what the two gargoyles were telling him, unaware they left out the part of their "activity", Goliath watched his second-in-command and his technological clan mates sternly, his arms crossed in front of his chest.  
  
"...And that's what happened," Brooklyn was finishing saying, when the alarms blared. Startled, the transfixed gargoyles looked up as Xanatos rushed into the room panting heavily. "There's a security breach in the Artifact room..."  
  
That was all Goliath needed to hear. With a roar, the clan leader pushed Xanatos out of the way and stormed out, followed by Brooklyn and Lexington. Xanatos watched them go. He knew they would stop whoever was in the artifacts room.  
He hoped anyway.  
  
Stamping madly into the stone hallway, blinded by the bright flaring lights and nearly made deaf by the WHEE!WHEE!WHEE! of the alarm system, Goliath growled in contempt, peering into the vicinity of the Artifacts Room, searching for the Phoenix Gate frantically, his fears, which had been gnawing away at his insides, were confirmed when he looked and saw, to his own dread.  
  
The Phoenix Gate was gone. The glass door had been destroyed.  
  
Xanatos appeared. "Whoever stole the Gate is long gone. He knocked out all the cameras, and he disabled the silent alarms. Whoever he is, he's good."  
Goliath frowned. "Then why did he not turn off these alarms?"  
  
Xanatos shrugged, befuddled. "Maybe he wanted to make it more challenging. Who knows?"  
  
A few minutes later, the entire clan, minus Bronx, was on patrol, searching for the one who had taken the deadly piece of history. So far they'd had no luck, but that was about to change for the worse.  
  
Flying, soaring over the city now, Brooklyn looked down suddenly and pointed. "There!"  
  
Everyone else looked down and saw a cloaked figure racing through the streets, holding something shiny in his pocket. Fortunately, Brooklyn's eyes were good enough to recognize from a distance that it was the Phoenix Gate and swooped down.  
  
And now, he and Lexington were in the alley, attacking the shadow who possessed the Gate, fighting with him to get it back, but this man, or creature, or whatever he was, was incredibly strong. Strong enough to hurl Lexington into a wall and knock him out. Enraged, Brooklyn leaped at this attacker, intent on ripping his guts out, but their assailant simply dodged the attack and rewarded Brooklyn with a kick to the ribs.  
  
Groaning, dropping to his knees, Brooklyn held his ribs, squeezing his eyes shut as the pain that racked through him began to subside and Brooklyn staggered to his feet wearily. Just as the stranger kicked Brooklyn in the back and sent him sprawling him against the wall to lie in an unconscious heap next to Lexington. The shadow chuckled pleasantly, and holding up the Gate, started to chant.  
  
"Deslagrate Muri Tempi Et Intervalia!"  
  
As a energy field from out of nowhere, covering the two gargoyles and their attacker, Brooklyn cracked open his eyelids, and croaked, "who...are...you?"  
The stranger looked down and smiled contemptuously.  
  
"The humans call me Kojak..."  
  
Brooklyn closed his eyes again and slipped back into unconsciousness, the roaring sound of electrical energy ringing through his ears.  
  
They all disappeared in a haze of white light that shined into the alley opening where Goliath waited patiently with Broadway, and Hudson, and the two unconscious gargoyles and Kojak were gone, fading out of existence into an unknown place and time within the white energy from which there was no escape.  
And then the field itself was gone.  
  
Goliath, hearing the chant and then the loud sound of electricity, rushed blindly into the alley. "Brooklyn! Lexington!"  
  
There was no answer. Only a dark abandoned alley.  
  
"BROOKLYN! LEXINGTON!" Goliath wailed frantically.  
  
They were gone. With the Phoenix Gate.  
  
And he had no idea how to find them...  
  
To Be Continued.  
  
This is not the end. Part 2 will pick up where this one left off, as Brooklyn and Lexington try to get back to their own world and escape the stranger that holds them hostage. But will they succeed? Will they return to Manhattan? Will the clan find out they're both gay? What will Goliath's reaction be if he does? Will I stop asking these questions? Will you read part 2 when it is posted?   
  
Only time will tell.  
  
Until then!  
  
Jake Denton (kingcobra49036@yahoo.com) 


	2. Alternate Lives, Part 2

Alternate Lives 2  
By Jake Denton (kingcobra49036@yahoo.com)  
  
Author's Note: This is a fan-requested sequel, dedicated to my fan. I don't want to say any names out loud, but to that fan, you know who you are. The gargoyles are the property of Disney, but Kojak is mine. Please don't take him without getting my permission first.  
  
PRVIOUSLY on Gargoyles:  
  
Brooklyn: Who...are...you?   
  
Kojak: The humans call me Kojak.  
  
(Brooklyn, Kojak, and Lexington all disappear in a blinding white light mere seconds before Goliath rushes into the alley.)  
  
Goliath: BROOKLYN! LEXINGTON!  
  
--Alternate Lives, Part 1.  
  
Stumbling through the alley, trying to make sense of the situation, Goliath's fragile mind desperately tried to figure out what had happened. Brooklyn and Lexington and the man who had stolen the Phoenix Gate, who had all been there less then 10 seconds ago, were just gone. And he could not figure out how except for one small detail. A thought that offered no solaces to him whatsoever. No solutions.  
  
The Phoenix Gate.  
  
He had heard Kojak chanting in that bizarre Latin dialogue, screaming those words: "Deflagrate Muri Tempi Et Intervalia," just before he and two of Goliath's clan, the two that he respected and loved the most next to Angela, just before they had been sucked into thin air. And the darkness and silence of the alley were giving no evidence that a battle had occurred here, or that there were two gargoyles here less then a minute ago.  
  
Watching her father worriedly, helplessly, Angela looked at Hudson. "Hudson? Can you help him?" She requested, a frightened light glowing in her eyes. Hudson nodded quickly, silently, and moved towards the alley to fulfill her wishes. Broadway hugged Angela tightly, listening to his love crying over the loss of two loving friends who truly had been dear to her.  
  
Behind the staggering Purple bag of lard, Hudson approached cautiously, not wanting to agitate the disturbed young one he had spent his life teaching the Gargoyle Way. "Lad?" The aged Gargoyle whispered in faint disbelief. "They are real'y gone, are't they?"  
  
Hearing the words, but not wanting to admit to this fact, Goliath ignored his mentor, taking the time instead to kneel down to where he had last Brooklyn, running his fingers all along the wall as though searching for something. Something that only he could see, and no one else.   
  
"Did you not see them, old friend? They were right here, and I can't get them back."  
  
"Aye. I saw."  
  
Hudson could sense the psychological torture that witnessing the sudden disappearance had done to his old friend whom he loved like a son. He understood that Goliath made himself responsible for all the clan, and losing two at once was making him suffer emotionally. Goliath blamed himself for the absence of his second-in-command, and the computer hacker Gargoyles.  
  
But he also knew that Brooklyn and Lexington had no chance of being rescued.  
For the first time in his elderly life, Hudson had no idea what to do.  
He only knew that Brooklyn and Lexington were completely on their own.  
Save for being in the hands of a complete stranger who was a potential foe.  
* * * * * *   
  
The darkness faded out, forming into a bright light that blinded him, making the limp form lying on his back on the ground raise a claw up to futilely protect his large eyes, and then it all came to him. Lexington. Kojak. The alley.  
  
That strange chant, followed by the even stranger electric light that had jumped through him and pushed him back into the realm of unconsciousness, where he spent an unknown estimate of time remaining in darkness, not wanting to escape it. He just wanted the darkness to swallow him, to prevent from what hardships he had in his life, and then suddenly he was floating, feeling peaceful, as he looked up into the light...  
  
Brooklyn opened his eyes wearily, and then blinked, as the memories of what had happened came flooding back to him, and he sat up, breathing heavily. What a wild ride THAT had been! Brooklyn relaxed, taking in all the sights around him. He was back home, the trees of Central Park reaching to the sky, the buildings sitting leaned against each other downtown. He was back in Manhattan.  
  
But it was not HIS Manhattan.  
  
Something was very wrong here.  
  
Damned if he knew what yet though.  
  
Noticing the lifeless green heap next to him, Brooklyn reached out slowly and shook Lexington by the shoulder. "Lex? Are you okay?"  
  
The small Green One moaned, but his eyes did not open.  
  
"He's unconscious," the brick-skinned garg though, a glimmer of worry forming in his chest. He didn't know where he was and wanted to explore his new surroundings, but at the same time he didn't want to leave his true love lying helpless on the grassy field, completely vulnerable. And he couldn't just pick him up, because Brooklyn wasn't clear as to the extent of Lex's wounds. So he just sat there on the soil, his knees tucked into his chest waiting patiently for his companion to awaken up.  
  
He had a long wait ahead of him.  
  
Approximately two hours later, Lexington opened his eyes weakly, coughing faintly and he looked up at his partner. "B-Brooklyn?" the smaller halfling gasped as he sat up onto his butt in a painful attempt to get up. Upon seeing his mate restored to wakefulness, Brooklyn hugged Lex tightly, planting a kiss on his lips and refusing to let go. Startled, caught off guard, Lex tried to shove his happily emotional brother off of him.  
  
"Are you okay, Lex? How bad are your injuries?"  
  
"Brooklyn...I'm okay...Just give me a minute..." Lexington gasped, getting to his feet, being aided by Brooklyn. "Tha-Thaks, Brooklyn..." Lex closed his eyes, trying to swallow the pain that was flowing through his veins, and turned toward Brooklyn, confused.  
  
"Is this Manhattan? It doesn't feel like home..."  
  
"It's not." Brooklyn answered, his steely eyes locked on par with Lexington's.  
"It's something...twisted. Distorted. It's like we slept for Forty years."  
  
Fully recovered now, Lexington glanced around, disoriented.  
  
"It DOES seem different, doesn't it?" the Olive gargoyle murmured, unable to believe what he was seeing. Everything was changed. Sure the trees in Central Park were touching the sky, but no leaves or vegetation of any kind grew there. The branches were as dead as Caesar. The town area was even worse.   
  
Wandering the streets, no sign of human habitation in sight, Brooklyn and Lexington looked around at all the changes that seemed to have taken place, at least to them, in such a very short time. The buildings were decayed, the stone and wood and brick foundations crumbling. The store windows were cracked. Abandoned cars outlined the street, several of which were crashed into telephone poles, other cars, or storefronts.   
  
"WHAT exactly happened here?" Lexington exclaimed, his surprise evidenced by the tone in his voice. Through all the years they had spent in this city, fighting the crime population, struggling to keep Manhattan from being overwhelmed with a callously annihilated climate caused by the high crime rates that were so rampant here, neither gargoyle had seen it this bad.  
  
Manhattan looked like it had been leveled by the consequences of a major nuclear war.   
  
Suddenly, from out of the burnt blackened alleyway, a sexy human female approached the confused travelers. Brooklyn stopped Lex, preventing him from going any further as he watched the vixen get closer. She stopped appreciatively, her black hair hanging in spreads, mussed around her head. Brooklyn grabbed her firmly and roughly by the arms.  
  
"What the hell happened out here?"  
  
Instead of answering, the girl rubbed Brooklyn's arm madly, her eyes showing an expression of fear and confusion. But most of all...panic. Something had obviously happened to this girl, for her state of mind was quite self-evident.  
  
She was insane.  
  
"Such pretty, pretty wings..." the lunatic smiled, a goofy grin etched on her face as she released Brooklyn's arm and touched the wing tip, stroking it gently, seeing something far away in her fevered mind. "Such pretty wings. I like winged creatures..."  
  
Brooklyn seized her roughly, his eyes turning white as snow. "I asked you a question, miss. Now...TALK!"   
* * * * * *   
  
Back in the normal Manhattan, atop the surfaces of Castle Wyvern, the worried clan leader paced back and forth, his arms tucked behind his back, and a anxious frown creasing his face, as though he were a clay figure and the disapproving glare had been plastered there by an artist. Hudson, Angela, Elisa, and Broadway watched him walk back and forth. Even Bronx whimpered and his ears drooped low.  
  
Taking the chance since she was the best chance to break the cold ice that had frozen over Goliath in the last two hours, Elisa crossed over to him gently, intent on saying something comforting to her lover. But she hugged him instead, sadness and anxiety chilling her to her very soul did she perform the normally predictable but utterly unexpected at this moment act of compassion and love. Goliath hugged her back silently.   
  
"Oh, Father, will we ever see them again?" Angela asked, sounding worried.  
  
Goliath looked at her and smiled. "Yes, my daughter. They will return as soon as they find a way back. I know them well enough to do that. I promise." Angela hugged her father next to Elisa. Hudson and Broadway stood silently, saying nothing as they watched.  
  
But Goliath knew that they were jus as worried as he was.  
* * * * * *  
  
Brooklyn growled at the girl he held in his arms in what looked to be a loving embrace but was actually a vicious interrogation. "I said Talk! What happened? Is this Manhattan? What year is this?!" When the girl still didn't answer, he bared his fangs angrily. The girl suddenly looked terrified. Well, as terrified as a raving crazy person could look.  
  
"The demons..." The girl ranted. "The demons...came out of the sea...with magical powers...killed everyone...I'm the last..." Finally, having suffered what was apparently lack of sleep and exhaustion from Brooklyn's iron grip, the deranged human fell asleep. Brooklyn released her, watching as the limp form slipped to the pavement softly, then looked at Lexington. Lexington shrugged in earnest.   
  
"She really WAS crazy, huh?" Lexington replied. Brooklyn looked at the empty street.  
  
"I guess so. Okay, first things first. We find out what happened, then we go find this guy who transported us here...his name was Kojak. We get the Phoenix Gate back from him, and use it to get back to OUR Manhattan."  
  
Lexington waved his hand around at all the demolition. "Brooklyn, this IS our Manhattan. We've just been asleep for a long time, that's all." Brooklyn shook his head violently, his white hair whipping from side to side.   
  
"Lex, this is NOT our Manhattan. If it were, then where are the Gargoyles? Where's Goliath? Or Broadway? Or Angela? No. This does not feel like Manhattan. At least, OUR Manhattan. It seems more like a alternate reality or something."  
  
"But, Brooklyn..." Lexington started to say before his idol and love of the halfling's life cut him off.  
  
"No arguments, Lex. We've got to find Kojak and the Gate." Brooklyn answered harshly.   
  
Lexington's face drooped sadly, memories of a better world flowing through the small one's calculating mind and making Brooklyn feel ashamed. Sighing, Brooklyn leaned down and hugged Lexington briefly. Lexington returned the hug, squeezing Brooklyn's arms gently before they separated.  
  
Brooklyn forced himself to tear his eyes away and settle on a burning car that sat parked in the middle of the road, burning up the residents inside it that might have once been alive, but were no longer. He sighed, and rubbed his beak absent-mindedly.   
  
"Somehow..." he thought silently. "We WILL get out of here and back home where we belong..."  
  
He looked quickly at the Olive form, which stood there, watching him, waiting for instructions, and smiled gently, showing his pointed teeth and fangs in a grotesque grin of desperation and sadness. Lexington, despite his misgivings about this place, forced himself to smile back.   
  
"Let's keep going," Brooklyn commanded. "We won't get any answers just standing around out here."  
  
As they slowly started off down the road, Brooklyn couldn't help but think of the clan waiting back in their plane of reality. Were they worried, frantically trying to find an explanation for the two missing Gargoyles' whereabouts? Stupid question. Of COURSE they were. But still, Brooklyn's thoughts kept moving back to his clan. His home. Everything he loved that was not here. Hell, he was even starting to miss DEMONA, which just reminded him how much of a terrible situation they were actually in, if he was thinking about his red-headed enemy this much.   
  
Suddenly he had an idea.  
  
If he couldn't go to see the Castle in HIS world, why couldn't Brooklyn see Castle Wyvern in THIS world? Then he would be able to meet up with the rest of the clan, provided that they were, of course, still alive here, in this land of desecration and abandonment. They should be still here, he reasoned. After all, isn't it a Gargoyle custom to protect the Castle no matter what? And wasn't the Castle still resting on it's overlook atop the Eyrie Building? Looking up, suddenly unsure, Brooklyn's fears were put to rest.  
  
There it was.  
  
It was faint, a dark shadow looming high in the clouds of the night sky, but it was there, all right. Now the only problem was to get to it quickly. Fortunately, he and Lexington both had wings. Brooklyn looked at his rookery partner, and smirked vainly, those ever-present confident juices running through his brain. The smaller gargoyle looked at him, confused, then followed Brooklyn's upward gaze, and, spotting the castle himself, smiled wickedly.   
Glancing at Brooklyn only once, Lexington faced the wall of the annihilated police station before him and dug his talons into the brick interior, pulling his slight body upward as he climbed the building, Brooklyn following close behind.  
  
"Nice view, Lex." Brooklyn remarked sarcastically.  
  
Lex smirked.  
  
Brooklyn wasn't lying. Despite his take-charge frame of mind he was in, he couldn't help but smile at the gargoyle climbing up the building, his loincloth showing Brooklyn much. Lexington looked down, and saw the wistful grin.  
  
"Uh, uh, don't even think about it...Brook," Lexington chortled, chuckling lightly at his friend's new nickname. "This isn't the time for such stuff. We've got a Castle to reach, remember?" "Uh-huh. Sure, Lex," Brooklyn answered, trying to stay focused on the meaningful task at hand that needed to be accomplished. Grabbing some ass wasn't going to help their cause.   
  
Pulling himself onto the brick cornices, Lexington turned around to help Brooklyn up. Grabbing Brooklyn's outstretched hand, Lex pulled hard and he and his lover went sprawling on the floor of the roof. Brooklyn looked down at Lex.   
  
"Nice position, huh?"  
  
Lexington just laughed silently and slid himself out from under the cherry red gargoyle before him. "Brooklyn, any foreplay we do will be done at home, not here, okay?"   
  
"What if we NEVER get home?"  
  
Lex suddenly looked glum. "Don't ever say that, okay? Things have a funny way of happening when you don't want them to, or if you say things like what you just did."   
  
"Whatever," Brooklyn brushed himself off, and stepped onto the edge of the roof, spreading his wings and taking off. "Hey! Wait up!" He heard Lex shout behind him, and slowed down to allow his affection catch up to him. Brooklyn smirked.  
"Hey what took ya so long?"   
  
Lexington stuck his tongue out.   
  
"Better watch it with that tongue. A pigeon will snatch it, and then you'll be in trouble," Brooklyn remarked, his grin stretching his face in two. Lexington said nothing, but he smiled a tooth-less smirk, and soared upwards, landing on the upper tower, looking around, as Brooklyn landed next to him. They looked around hesitantly. "Goliath? Are you here? We're home..."  
  
There was no answer. The place was empty.  
  
Brooklyn looked around, confused. "Goliath? It's Brooklyn. Can you hear me?"  
The only sound was the sound of crickets chirping from somewhere in the darkness.   
  
Brooklyn paled, his hands trembling slightly, as he tried a light. It didn't come on. Like the town below, the Castle appeared to have been vacant for a thousand years. Where WAS everyone hiding? Brooklyn shivered, a chill at long last shooting down his spinal cord, leaving a feeling of dread in Brooklyn's stomach. Okay, he definitely did not like this now.   
  
Suddenly, from behind him there was a sound of...  
  
Whistling?  
  
Craning his head to look, Brooklyn saw for the first time since he had arrived here in this hellish world Kojak, holding the Phoenix Gate, and smirking disdainfully. Brooklyn snarled, his eyes flaming as white as marshmallows.   
  
Kojak held up one hand. "Hold it."  
  
Brooklyn paused. "Why? Where's the rest of the clan?" He roared. "Who ARE you?!"  
Instead of answering, Kojak said simply. "You don't recognize your own grandson?"  
  
Brooklyn stared, amazed, unable to believe his ears.  
  
To Be Continued. 


	3. Kojak's Tale

Alternate Lives: Kojak's Tale  
By Jake Denton (kingcobra49036@yahoo.com)  
  
SUMMARY: The continuation of the events begun in the first two chapters of "The Alternate Lives" saga. Brooklyn and Lexington, on a mission to retrieve the Phoenix Gate from someone named Kojak, are trapped in a world that is not their own. Can they get back to their own plane of reality? This latest installment picks up directly where "Alternate Lives 2" ended.  
  
Warning: Swearing, homosexual activity. Not for those of you who are under 13. Kojak is mine, so don't use him without asking first.  
  
Brooklyn paled, his hands trembling slightly, as he tried a light. It didn't come on. Like the town below, the Castle appeared to have been vacant for a thousand years. Where WAS everyone hiding? Brooklyn shivered, a chill at long last shooting down his spinal cord, leaving a feeling of dread in Brooklyn's stomach. Okay, he definitely did not like this now.  
  
Suddenly, from behind him there was a sound of...  
Whistling?  
  
Craning his head to look, Brooklyn saw for the first time since he had arrived in this hellish world Kojak, holding the Phoenix Gate, and smiling disdainfully. Brooklyn snarled, his eyes flaming white as marshmallows.   
  
Kojak held up one hand. "Hold it."  
  
Brooklyn paused. "Why? Where's the rest of the clan?" He roared. "Who ARE you?!"  
  
Instead of answering, Kojak said simply. "You don't recognize your own grandson?"  
  
Brooklyn stared, amazed, unable to believe his ears.  
  
Catching the surprised look on his lover's face, Lexington sneered. "You can't be Brooklyn's grandson! Brooklyn's not into female gargoyles! He's gay! So he can never have kids...or grandkids. Stop bullshitting us!"  
  
The cloaked creature shook his head, and for the first time Brooklyn caught sight of the familiar looking beak and gasped. "I AM Brooklyn's grandson, but I cannot prove it at the moment. I have no time." He looked at the rusty-skinned form before him. "You are desired to assist in my mission, grandfather. Without you, all will be lost."  
  
"Not so fast," Brooklyn spoke for the first time since Kojak's chilling revelation. "I want some questions answered first. You say you're my grandson, and that you need me. But if you are of my future bloodline, then how did you get here? Surely you did not have the Phoenix Gate to transport you. Otherwise you would not have stolen it in the first place."  
  
"In my time," Kojak responded. "The Phoenix Gate has been discovered, and duplicate copies created through the feats of science and sorcery. I had my Gate with me when I arrived here, but I have lost it before I could find you. Stealing Xanatos' talisman was the only way for me to return home with you."  
  
"Why do you need me?" Brooklyn asked. He had his own suspicions about this character. This "Kojak" who was supposedly his grandchild? This gargoyle who now was smirking vainly at the red and green lovers? The Gargoyle who had dragged them here?  
  
"Why did you drag us here?" Lexington asked wearily. "Where IS here, anyways?"   
  
Kojak smiled at Lexington patiently. "This is Manhattan, as I'm sure you know already. But it is not your Manhattan. The year is 2121, and this is MY Manhattan." He brushed his clawed three fingered hand at the window. "Take a look. My world was beautiful once, before Demona created it's destruction."  
  
Brooklyn's ears caught the sound of the name, and his eyes flared a fiercely angry color of white before turning back to the regular Hazel. "Demona? She did this?" Kojak nodded sadly. "She finally got her revenge years ago. All the humans on Earth, save the few still alive who went mad, are dead...as are the rest of your clan. I'm the last gargoyle remaining from Manhattan. I'm sorry."  
  
"Goliath? Elisa? Bronx? Broadway and Angela?" Brooklyn trembled.  
  
"They all died long ago. Xanatos, Fox, and Alexander, who was by that time in his 30's, fought valiantly but futilely against Demona, and they were all killed in battle. Owen was denounced to be Puck and was destroyed. Demona took over the world soon after, rooting out any Gargoyles that survived and bending them to her will, killing those whom resisted, the rest of your clan included."  
  
"What about Macbeth?" Lexington demanded. "Can't he do something about this?"   
  
Kojak closed his eyes sadly. "Unfortunately, Macbeth went into hiding soon after the Xanatos family were killed. I don't know why, but he seems to want to have nothing to do with Demona or the dying breed known as Humans."  
  
"I have a story to tell you. Perhaps you'd better sit down. It's a long tale."  
  
Brooklyn and Lexington found a place to sit side by side on a shattered parapet, and listened intently as Kojak began his story. The cloaked gargoyle gazed at the two for a second, and then began his tale, loneliness dripping behind every word he spoke.  
  
"I was born in 2056. Yes, Brooklyn, you and Lexington were still gay then and had become life-mates long before that year. However, soon after you two celebrated your new eternal union, Angela and Brooklyn had both gotten drunk. Alcohol is a far more mind messing experience for Gargoyles then for humans. So much so that Brooklyn confused Angela for you, Lex. In his drunken haze, he didn't notice that the gargoyle he was fucking was a female. And thus I was born. Angela never told you about it, Brooklyn, because she was afraid of what would happen should Broadway discover your little deed. My mother was sent to live with the Guatemalan Clan before the egg was hatched. Broadway never saw the egg, and so when his time came, he died not knowing that Angela had birthed Brooklyn's child.  
  
My mother and I lived soundly in the Guatemalan Rain Forest with my father until I was the age of 25, when the devastation broke out. My parents were killed, and I joined Demona's allies for a short period under the art of espionage. When I learned what I needed to know, I fled, took one of the Phoenix Gates, and came to your time to find you, my ancestor, and possibly stop all this from ever happening. I want to stop Demona, and I need your help to do it, Brooklyn.   
  
Demona is fully powerful now, venting her rage against the human race eons ago, and now using her immortality to ensnare the remaining Gargoyles into her web of lies to achieve her own purposes. I know not yet what they are, but rest assured, when someone like Demona is in charge, their plans are always sinister. I came to your timeline to find Brooklyn, and bring him back with me in an attempt to change what has been...or, for you two, what will be. If Macbeth had not gone into hiding, he would have been an useful ally in my war against Queen Bitch herself. Very useful, seeing as how he's the only one who can kill her."  
  
"And you want us...me...to help you change the past to avert the future?"   
  
Brooklyn concluded, understanding sinking into his collective mind. Lexington stared at Kojak and Brooklyn, unable to believe what he was hearing. With everything that Kojak had told them, everything that had been done in the last twenty-four hours made perfect sense now, but still...  
  
"You're lying!" Lexington snarled, pointing an accusing green finger at his lover's descendent. Kojak looked pained and Brooklyn jumped at Lex quickly. "Lex, I think he's telling the truth." "No way, Brook! You can't believe this guy!"  
  
"And why not? He obviously brought us here for a reason. Maybe we should hear him out." Brooklyn suggested calmly, keeping an arm curled around Lex's slender shoulder. "Maybe Kojak is lying. Maybe not. But as long as we question him, we'll never know for sure."  
  
Lexington considered. Everything Kojak had said seemed to be sincere and truthful. Also, why else would the strange Gargoyle have brought them both to his time? Brooklyn was probably right. Kojak looked pretty genuine whenever he mentioned the death of his clan and the deaths of his parents. Lexington didn't like what was happening here, but he knew he could nothing but comply with Kojak's expectant wishes. He sighed and took the eager Gargoyle's hand.  
  
"I'm in." Lexington notioned, wondering why he had agreed to it, but knowing he had had no choice. He had an unsettling instinct around this strange Kojak character, but if Brooklyn, his true love, was joining in to try and stop Demona, then Lex was not about to just step back and let his lover risk being killed. Brooklyn meant a lot to him, and he wanted to be there to watch his back for him, in the inevitable event of battle. Unsettling feelings or not, Lex still didn't entirely trust Kojak, but he didn't want to leave Brooklyn all alone in this. So he had decided to go with them both.  
  
"Me, too." Brooklyn seconded, just smiling down at his rookery brother cheerfully, as though nothing were wrong. In the back of his mind, Brooklyn wondered if Lexington really wanted to go at all. After all, the green fleshed gargoyle didn't seem to care for Kojak too fondly. But Brooklyn knew that Lexington would never have allowed him to go on a dangerous mission alone without backup. Brooklyn didn't want Lex to come for fear that they would both die but at the same time he couldn't be more thrilled. In that moment, Brooklyn loved Lexington even more then before.  
  
Knowing that the deal was done, that the contract was signed, Kojak nodded reassuringly, and extended his hands. "It is a two day flight from here to Guatemala where Demona's base of operations is located. Not to mention the hours we'll miss in our stone sleeps. Let us go now. Come with me."  
  
Taking his grandson's left hand, Brooklyn gazed at his lover, who was standing there stubbornly, arms crossed. "You coming, Lex?" Lexington regarded Brooklyn irritably, then nodded and hesitantly grabbed Kojak's right hand, giving his lover a small smile. Kojak opened his wings, and just before he dived to catch the updraft, looked at his traveling companions, pleased. "Good choice. You are both doing the right thing."  
  
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Lexington muttered while Brooklyn fixed him with a stern look.   
  
Leaping off the balcony, Kojak, Lexington, and Brooklyn soared downwards for a few seconds. Then, catching a rising rush of wind, they soared skywards, leaving the devastated city behind. These three Gargoyles were on a mission, and nothing could deter them from it. As they leaped towards the moon, wings flapping, the three separated and disappeared into the horizon, being swallowed by the night sky as they glided in the direction of one destination.  
  
Guatemala.  
  
COMING SOON: SUSPICIONS 


	4. Suspicions

Alternate Lives: Suspicions  
By Jake Denton (kingcobra49036@yahoo.com)  
  
Author's Note: Chapter 4 in the long Alternate Lives Saga. Not intended for minors. Please heed the warnings! Rated PG for language.  
  
Grasping onto Kojak's hand, Brooklyn gazed down at the city below him. The province of the destroyed streets of Manhattan, New York. Already, he was starting to forget the complete sense of anxiety that was stirred within him as his eyes first took in the sights of the burnt blackened buildings. Not to mention the chaos that outlined the roads. Brooklyn stifled a sob as he remembered what Kojak had claimed had happened to the clan.  
  
Why THEM? Why did this future have to require the aid of Brooklyn and his newly joined lover? Couldn't Kojak have handled the devastation on his own? Why was Brooklyn needed to go to Guatemala and help put an end to Demona's treachery? The most important, in the gargoyle's fevered mind, was...What would happen to him and Lex when this was all over, assuming they lived to see the end of Demona's latest scheme? Glancing at the gargoyle on his right side, squirrel like wings open and flapping as Lexington flew, Brooklyn couldn't help but hope that he and Lex would get this thing in one piece. If something had happened, something bad to the one mate who had not rejected him, Brooklyn knew he would want nothing more then his own death, to rejoin with Lexington and the clan members on the other side.  
  
Brooklyn blinked furiously as his eyes burned suddenly from the scorching rays of the rising sun. Kojak noticed the approaching apparition and glided back towards the earth. "We must find a place to roost. Come". Brooklyn and Lexington followed at a distance. Lexington looked at his mate compassionately and yet, angrily.  
  
'Why are we following him? For all we know this could be a trap." Brooklyn shook his head in disagreement. "When Kojak mentioned stopping Demona, Lex, I just felt this odd sense of...having a strange bond with him. Like I was his family. Now that I know that I am a part of his blood, as he is mine, it makes me feel proud." He gazed at the soaring gargoyle ahead of him. "Looking at him, listening to that bitter tone he had about Demona, it reminded me of...myself. Obviously, he got that trait from me. So that makes us family, after all. No matter what doubts you or I may have about Kojak..."  
  
"I guess so," Lexington muttered unhappily, spreading his wings and landing on the floor of a balcony without looking at the surroundings first, Kojak watching him on his left. When Brooklyn touched down, he recognized where he was instantly and gasped in amazement. Lexington looked at him. "Are you okay?" Brooklyn did not reply. He just kept staring forward, and Lexington looked, and saw it for the first times in seemingly years.  
  
The rubble. The mangled ceiling. The debris. The crumbling walls. This was definitely familiar, and Lexington knew where he was. Where Brooklyn was. Where Kojak was.  
  
They were back at the clock tower above the police station. The same tower that the Canmore children had long ago, in a state of wrongful intentions and unjust hatred had annihilated, nearly killing the Gargoyles. The clan would have perished if Lexington had not spotted the tracking device at the last second. Thankfully, Lexington HAD discovered and warned the clan quickly enough to find a hiding place. Now, this hallowed shell was all that was left of the clan's home away from the Castle.  
  
Lexington glowered annoyed at Kojak. "What the fuck is wrong with you, bringing us HERE?!" Kojak regarded the smaller gargoyle half amusedly. "This was the closest place to rest before the sun rose." Lexington's face twisted. "You lousy son of a-"  
  
And the sun lifted into the early morning sky completely, freezing all three gargoyles in stone. Lexington's stony face shaped in an eerily fiercely agitated expression. Brooklyn's granite shape grabbing for his rookery brother. And the instigator of this journey, Kojak himself, looking cynical, his arms crossed rhythmically across his cemented chest. They would stay in those positions until the sun sank into the dark depths of the evening atmosphere to come back later.  
When it did, when the sky turned black, the three gargoyles returned to flesh, roaring their wakefulness into the climates of the chilly New York air, casting stone shards down to the streets below. Lexington yawned, and looked at Kojak. "May we continue our voyage to Guatemala now?" he asked mockingly. Kojak smiled evilly. "It is time to resume our journey. Let us go."  
  
"Who died and made you boss?" Lexington questioned suspiciously. "You led us here, true, and we will help any way we can. But Brooklyn is your ancestor. I am too, in a way. Why should YOU tell US what to do?" Brooklyn sighed and placed his hand on the lover's shoulder to relax him.  
  
"Lex," Brooklyn spoke. "That is enough. Please." Lex simply glared, and relaxed with a sigh, his shoulders slumping. "Okay, Brooklyn. I'll stop baiting him, just because you asked me to." Brooklyn smiled and kissed him warmly then pulled away. "Thanks Lex."  
  
"Let us go," Kojak instructed, opening his wings and leaping off the drop off, catching an updraft and soaring up and way. Brooklyn and Lexington looked at each other, then shrugged, and followed him, flapping rapidly to catch up with their companion. Kojak smiled softly to himself, as he observed the two Gargs approaching out of the corner of his eye. Brooklyn flew up to Kojak's left, and looked at him curiously. "How much farther to Guatemala?" Kojak smiled at him. "A long way," was all he would say, and Brooklyn accepted that answer.   
  
But Lexington did not. No matter what he promised Brooklyn, the small gargoyle still did not trust this unknown gargoyle that was leading him. Something about this whole affair was bothering Lex, and he couldn't quite say what it was, but he didn't like this plan. Did Kojak have some secret agenda of his own? Was this whole thing a trap? Lexington's first experience with The Pack had taught him to always trust his instincts.  
  
And his instincts told him that Kojak was nothing but trouble.  
  
He would just have to keep his non-trusting eyes on Kojak. If Brooklyn's "descendant" tried anything funny, Lexington knew that he would know in a heartbeat. Suffice it as it was to say, he did not trust Kojak or Brooklyn's decision to follow him. Sure they were on a desperate mission to stop Demona and change the past, but what effects would changing the past have on him and Brooklyn? Lex didn't want anything, even the waves of time and space, to interrupt his new relationship with his rookery brother turned mate.  
  
Tiring quickly, their wings beginning to ache, the Trio of travelers stopped on the desecrated backroad of western Maine to take a breather. Brooklyn slumped against a tree. He couldn't believe how winded he felt. Next time he traveled anywhere this far, it would be on a motorcycle. Brooklyn smiled suddenly, a mental image of him racing down the Manhattan roads, the wind whipping his white hair around, Lex clinging to him, the small green hands wrapped around his waistline coming to mind. Yeah, that was a nice image for the red gargoyle all right. Too bad that they couldn't do that right now. Just forget their troubles and go on a nice easy ride. Maybe there'd be time for that kind of activity when this mission was over, and they were returned to their own timeline...  
  
Maybe.  
  
"Okay, we've recovered. We still have a long way to go, and it's best to get moving." Kojak replied serenely, and the small group was soon up and gliding again. Lexington fumed. Who did Kojak think he was, telling then what to do? Just because he was related to Brooklyn didn't mean that had to act like an army commander.   
  
Lexington was about to tell the prick off when he looked at Brooklyn, who was staring at him, and shaking his head no. Lexington sighed, a feeling of fatigue rising in his chest. Maybe Brooklyn was right. Maybe he didn't like Kojak, but Lexington decided to give him a chance. After all, even though he had trouble with the Pack before, that didn't mean that every person he had bad feelings about was going to turn into a complete sleaze, right?   
  
Lexington smiled at last, making his final decision. Kojak was probably just bossy because it stemmed from Brooklyn's sense of responsibility. Maybe the whole take charge factor was just hereditary to Kojak. Now that he had time to think about it, Lexington realized that the chances this whole thing was a trap wasn't very plausible. Kojak was not the most laid back gargoyle in the world, but he was strict and fair, from what Lexington had seen, anyway. Why would he lead them into a trap in the first place?  
  
Lexington glided to his lover and whispered in his ear.  
  
"I'm through fighting with Kojak now."  
  
Brooklyn smiled and looked away, leaving Lexington to his thoughts.  
  
When they had finally reached Guatemala at long lost, after a few days of resting their wings and constant intervals of stone rest, the three finally arrived in the forests of Guatemala. "I've never seen so many trees!" Lexington whispered in awe, running his claws against the bark of an ancient sycamore.   
  
Kojak smiled. "I know you enjoy the vegetation here, but we are not here to admire the surroundings. We have a job to do. Remember that." He nodded to his left. "Demona's corporation is that way. We will launch a sneak attack, get inside, find the Phoenix Gate that I will need to escort you back to your time, and we will not let anything get in our way."  
  
"And what will YOU do?"   
  
"I will use the Gate to go back with you, but I will go to stop your clan from being killed. If they are saved, they will thwart Demona again, and none of this, which you have seen, will come to pass. The future, and your city, will go living in a peaceful existence."  
  
"As peaceful as Manhattan can get, anyway." Brooklyn snickered.  
  
Kojak looked at the dark building in the distance. "We must go. Now." He took a few steps forward, and a laser gun suddenly appeared from the thick shrubbery, poking the startled half-ling in the chest, making him back up a step in surprise. Brooklyn and Lexington gasped in surprise, then Brooklyn's eyes faded to that milky white color.  
  
"Demona!"  
  
The evil gargress smiled arrogantly. "Ah, my young ones." She aimed the gun at the three of the horrified gargoyles. "Sorry to spoil your party." She sneered cruelly, her mouth twisted into an insane leer of hatred.  
  
"But the fun is over."  
  
To Be Continued...  
  
If anyone would like to voice what they think, send it to me at: kingcobra49036@yahoo.com. I take all criticism, good or bad, so don't be shy!  
  
King Cobra3. 


	5. Entrapped

Entrapped  
By Jake Denton (kingcobra49036@yahoo.com)  
  
Warning: Profanity.   
  
Author's Note: Part 5 in the Alternate Lives saga. This one will be the shortest, due to conflicting schedules that use up my time.  
  
"Demona," Brooklyn snarled. "I should've known I'd run into you again."  
  
The flame haired gargress smiled, that familiar expression of utter insanity  
twinkling in her eye. "Ah, my young Brooklyn, I see that you have arrived to stop me." Her smile faded and she aimed the bazooka at the trio huddled before her. "But isn't that always the case?" Brooklyn's eyes flared.  
  
Demona poked the gun into Brooklyn's side threateningly. "Now, you and your mate, which isn't too surprising, knowing you, move. NOW." Lexington snarled at her, mentally imaging a thousand deaths upon their hated foe. "Go to hell, Demona!"  
  
Brooklyn retorted. "At least I HAVE a mate. What's your excuse, bitch?"  
  
Demona's last nerve vanished and she growled. Brooklyn leapt at her, intending to end this threat against them once and for all. But instead of taking her punishment, Demona dodged the lunge and whacked Brooklyn on the back of the head with the gun before shooting it at Lex. "Fools! You will die!" Lexington jumped in and out of different spots of the forest, his skin tone blending in with the surroundings, keeping the gargoyle camouflaged. The angry she-devil howled in frustration.  
  
WHACK!  
  
Demona's eyes suddenly rolled up in her head, and she hit the dirt. Lexington looked up, surprised, as Kojak unclenched his fist and lowered it to his side. "Enemies should never turn their backs on me. It gets them headaches every time," the gargoyle mocked. Lexington laughed, and then scuttled over to where his lover lay unconscious. Brooklyn moaned and opened his eyes.  
  
"Brooklyn, are you okay?"  
  
The young warrior rubbed the back of his head painfully. Demona sure knew how to  
pack a punch, that was for certain. "Yeah, I'm fine, Lex." Lexington looked at  
Demona's crumpled form worriedly. "What are we going to do with her?" "We take her with us," Kojak replied. "We don't know what kind of security measures Demona may have installed here. We'll need her to get inside."  
  
"And then what?"  
  
"Then we leave her."   
  
"And let her escape?" Brooklyn demanded. "Let her attack us again? That's insane!" Kojak regarded his relative amusedly. "We don't have much of a choice, grandfather. We can't kill her, and we can't keep her with us. She'll draw too much attention."  
  
"And you think leaving her won't?'  
  
"No," Kojak answered, and when they were in, Kojak, using some strange type of  
technological gun, shot the wall, tossed Demona's form into it, and fired at the  
wall again. The hole shrank down until there was no sign at all that the wall had been blasted out. Brooklyn watched all this in amazement. "Wow," was all Lexington could say.  
  
Brooklyn looked at Kojak. "Such good weapons they must have in his time," Brooklyn thought. "I wonder what else he could do that we can't." The red skinned gargoyle had no idea what was about to take place. He casually asked, "So where do we go now?" Kojak raised a clawed hand and shushed his ancestor. "There is an engine room. If we go there, we can kill the power." Brooklyn nodded. "Okay."  
  
A few minutes later, the engine room door kicked in, and the Trio glanced around the brightly lit room. Lexington suddenly noticed something in the upper right corner of the ceiling. "Look!" the small gargoyle cried, pointing. Father and Grandson looked.  
  
At the cage dangling from the ceiling, Angela's arms were wrapped behind her by a heavy chain inside the cage. Brooklyn, getting confused, looked at Kojak.   
  
"What's going on?' he questioned, not seeing the electric tazer appear in his descendant's right taloned hand. "You'll know in a minute...grandfather," Kojak promised. And with that, he rammed the tazer into Brooklyn's stomach. The Gargoyle grimaced, and collapsed. Lexington flinched back, shocked, and Kojak leapt at him, giving him the same treatment. When Lexington was taking a short nap, Kojak grinned evilly.  
  
"Nighty-night, you two," he laughed.  
  
To Be Continued...  
  
In the next installment, Brooklyn and Lexington learn where Kojak's true loyalties lie, while a face from the past returns. Coming soon in "Alternate Lives 6 - Deceptions."  
  
Until next time, heeeeeerrreeeeeeeee's  
  
King Cobra3 (kingcobra49036@yahoo.com). 


	6. Deceptions

Deceptions  
By Jake Denton (kingcobra49036@yahoo.com)  
  
Author's Note: Doster, Kojak, and Zadina are mine. Please don't take without permission.  
  
Brooklyn glared at Kojak, his jaw clenched in anger, as the traitorous gargoyle pushed him into Angela's cage. "Why are you doing this?" the brownish red gargoyle questioned. Kojak snickered. "Demona kept me alive all this time. If it hadn't been for her, I would've perished with you and the others years ago."  
Brooklyn's eyes narrowed. "I thought you were going to help us, not kill us."  
  
Kojak glanced at Demona placing Lexington's unconscious form into the cage that stood five feet away. "I had no choice, grandfather. Her wisdom will purify this planet and create a better world for our species. Once the last human alive is vanquished, we will take our rightful place in this world." Brooklyn stretched to stand as tall as the cramped cell would allow, which wasn't much. "But, I thought...you wanted to stop her..."   
  
Kojak laughed derisively. "She is right about you. You are a fool!" He looked away. "Now we have the Phoenix Gate, and your clan is dead. You, your precious Lex, and this lovely female here" He gestured to Angela. "are the last of the gargoyles. There is no one to stop us now!" Kojak laughed maniacally. "You bastard!" Brooklyn snarled. "I trusted you!"  
  
Kojak grinned wickedly. "You shouldn't have."  
  
Brooklyn looked at Angela slumped against the side of the cage depressed. "I thought you told me she died!" Kojak shook his head. "She did die...along with the others in a fight against the Quarrymen after I was born. But, Demona missed her so much, she had Servarius clone her. The Angela you see is not the Angela you knew in your youth."  
  
Brooklyn looked at him wearily. "What is this all about?"  
  
Kojak was arrogantly cocky and it showed. "How inquisitive, grandfather. Snooping your nose where it doesn't belong. Are you sure you want to know the plan? It's complicated."  
  
"Just tell me. NOW."  
  
Kojak waved a finger mockingly. "Testy, testy, grandpa Brooklyn! If you want to be demanding, we'll never get anywhere! But all right. It began long ago, after Goliath died and you became leader of your clan..."  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *   
  
Manhattan, New York  
  
2056 AD.  
  
"Come on, Angela!" Brooklyn urged. "You're doing great!"  
  
The surrogate mother screamed and panted, her moans echoing off the walls, making her pain evident as she tried to push the egg out of her. It was a special moment for Brooklyn and Lexington, as the two would finally have their own hatchling. Lexington's excitement was apparent from the way he kept jumping up and down and squeezing Brooklyn's hand enthusiastically.   
  
Brooklyn smiled, gently squeezing his lover's hand, and waited for the pain-racked gargess to give birth. Finally, at long last, the egg pushed itself out of her cavern and Angela flopped back in exhaustion. "Whew!" she gasped. "I never thought it would be so hard!" Thanks, Angela." Brooklyn praised, taking the egg from her and holding the small sickly wet pink shell gently. "But what do we do with it now?" Angela sat up, wearily. "We can't let Broadway know about it. He'll be infuriated. There's only one option."   
  
"What's that?" Lexington asked, afraid of the answer.  
  
"Send it to Avalon, to be cared for by Princess Katherine and Tom. Where it can grow and mature in the honorable Gargoyle way." Angela replied between breaths. "No!" Lexington cried, suddenly panic-stricken. "He's our child! Brooklyn and I will care for it!" Angela regarded her old friend. "Neither of you two can have children. You're both male. What do you think Broadway will say when he sees the egg? He will know that it was not his child with me, and neither of you trust Demona enough to make an egg with her. He'll know I'm the only female capable of it. Not to mention you two might want your own hatchling. It's not terribly difficult to figure out, when you do the math."  
  
"You're right," Brooklyn admitted. "Then we must go to Avalon, and raise the child ourselves. We will care for it and raise it in the ways of loyalty and protection. It is the Gargoyle way." Lex looked worried. "But you are the leader, and I am your second. Who would run the clan in our absence?"  
  
"I will," came a masculine voice from behind them.  
  
Brooklyn and Lex both turned as one to look at Doster, Angela's son, watching the events bemusedly. He was a gray gargoyle who was taller then even Brooklyn and as heavy as Goliath. His head was cropped by peach colored hair that draped over his shoulders. His dress was more than the usual loincloth. Instead, his wardrobe consisted of an armor chest-plate on his torso and black pants. His dark black wings swept in a skyward motion, like Brooklyn's. He had Broadway's facial features, however.  
  
"My pupil," Brooklyn stated hesitantly. "Are you sure you wish to take responsibility for the clan and protect the humans below?" Doster nodded. "I am positive, my leader. It would not be a responsibility. It would an honor. I have never dreamed I would get this moment." Brooklyn smiled. "Very well. You, Doster, are the Clan's leader while Lexington and I are in Avalon." Doster nodded, accepting the title.   
  
* * * * * * * * * * *   
  
"So, what happened to Doster?" Brooklyn snarled, certain he knew the eager-to-learn gargoyle's fate but not choosing to express his instinctive expectation.   
  
Kojak smiled cruelly, that mad gleam back in his eyes. "My mother, Zadina, remained on Avalon with you and lover-boy over there until I was hatched. One night, I desired to see the world, and, finding the latin spell, used it to get to Manhattan. You and the other gargoyles there tried to stop me to no avail. Once there, I met up with Demona, and she..." he paused as though to collect his thoughts. "enlightened me."  
  
"After I allied with her, I hunted down your former clan, and challenged Doster to a match to claim leadership of the clan. When he was killed, I took control and melded the clan to follow MY will..."  
  
"You're sick," Brooklyn muttered. Kojak kept ranting, unhearing the accusation.  
  
"...Then, when they questioned me, Demona and I used Xanatos' Gen-U-Tech to clone the Loch Ness Monster. We used it to attack the city, appearing in the Hudson river and working our way west. We followed by submarine." He skipped gleefully. "Oh, the bloodshed! The madness! The horror!" Kojak was absolutely giddy with insanity.  
  
"And why did you need me here?"  
  
Kojak looked thoughtful. "It was Demona's idea, actually. See, she used the Phoenix Gate to look in the future, when you, yes, YOU, grandfather, arrive to thwart her plans." He looked at his relative. "The only way to keep that from happening was to drag you and Lexington out of the 1990's, before you went to Avalon, and kill you both."  
  
Brooklyn couldn't believe what he was hearing. It was a lot to take in. Time travel, and Loch Ness and cloning? Kojak WAS crazy, after all. Then Brooklyn had a sudden thought. If Kojak had brought him here to die BEFORE going to Avalon, then how was all this happening? Kojak would have never been born because Brooklyn would never have accidentally gotten Angela pregnant.  
  
So how could Kojak be here?  
  
Brooklyn realized that his answers would have to wait, though, for Demona chose that moment to appear. "Lexington is dead," she informed him, ignoring the look of grieving anguish on Brooklyn's face by raising the laser gun and pointing it at him.  
  
"And you are next."  
  
To Be Continued...  
  
Any comments about this should be sent to kingcobra49036@yahoo.com.  
  
NEXT: THE UNEXPECTED 


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